Restoration Register

Heritage restoration contractors in London and Southwestern Ontario

London runs a Heritage Building Improvement Grant at 50%, has substantial designated stock in Woodfield and Old East Village, and has almost no published directory of contractors who can do the work. This page exists because that gap is real, and three verified listings is what honest coverage of this region currently looks like.

A whole-building restoration contractor here is running the same job as anywhere else, on stock that is mostly Victorian and Edwardian brick: masonry, roof, windows and interior, under a municipal heritage permit and to the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. The regional difficulty is subtrades. There are four heritage masons and six window restorers in the whole of Southwestern Ontario, so a contractor's ability to get the right specialist on site, including from outside the region, is the thing worth interrogating. If your contractor names no specialist subtrades at all, they are planning to do it in-house, and on masonry that is where the money goes wrong.

What to ask before you hire

  1. Who are your masonry and window subtrades? If the answer is that the in-house crew does it, ask what heritage masonry work that crew has completed.
  2. Have you worked with London's heritage planning staff? Grant approval and permit conditions go faster with someone who has been through it.
  3. Will you bring in specialists from outside the region if needed? In a thin market the right answer is yes, priced honestly.
Grant funding

London's Heritage Building Improvement Grant funds at 50%, with no published maximum, and requires approval before work starts. Brantford funds 50% to $20,000 and St. Marys 50% to $7,500 architectural. Windsor, Owen Sound, Chatham-Kent and Petrolia run programs with unpublished terms.

Contractors on this page

Also serving this area

Listed in a neighbouring region and covering this one.

Part of

All heritage service pages · Grants by municipality